State Farm Keeping Busy With Damage Claims

2008-04-19T03:48:02Z2008-04-19T04:13:08Z

By Wyatt GoolsbyNewsWest 9

ODESSA - Thousands of West Texans are still dealing with serious damage after last weeks' storms and hail. Most are worried about fixing all the dents in their car. But one insurance company expects to have extra staff in the Basin for a while longer.

After all of the bad weather last week, state farm insurance decided to send their national catastrophe team West Texas. They said that's notbecause it's the worst weather we've ever seen, but because the damage affected so many people. Members of State Farm said Friday, they've only been set up a week taking damage claims, but they're already seen over 3,000 people reporting damage.

"I've seen much worse damages, however, the storm that came through here; it was roughly, I'd say nickel to golf ball size hail," said Steven Brown, with State Farm's National Catastrophe Team. "We've got a lot of damages to vehicles."

State Farm agents said about 90 percent of the people they've seen looking for estimates after the storms are from Odessa, and that's why they've set up shop just outside of the Music City Mall.

"We basically travel all around the Country assisting with storms such as this when they occur," said Brown. "Basically, we want to leave the local resources so they can continue to handle the local claims that occur on a regular basis. So we come in, and we handle all of this for them."

Brown said so far, they've seen about 140 to 150 cars a day passing through their tent. And a lot of those cars have glass damage.

"If you have damages where you're in this case where you're glass is damaged in your drivers view, we'd like for you to contact your agent, so we can get you in, and get that glass replaced as soon as possible," advised Brown.

Agents said with all of the cars coming in, right now, there's no plan to leave.

"But the bottom line is we want all of our policy holders to know that we're here to take care of you however long it takes," said Brown.

Folks with State Farm said if you're planning on driving in to get an estimate, it is important to schedule an appointment. They said they have appointments set through May 6th. And at this rate, they could be scheduling for even longer.